96-412: A galactic empire is a common trope used in science fantasy and science fiction. Galactic Empire or Galactic Empires may also refer to: Galactic empire Galactic empires are a science fiction setting trope , in which most or all of the habitable planets in the setting's galaxy are ruled by a single centralized political entity. Galactic empires most frequently appear in works in
192-567: A Mayor . Through a centuries-long series of developments which are the main subject matter of the Foundation Series , the Foundation gains enormous power and territory and comes to rule virtually as many stellar systems as the earlier fallen Empire - but continues to call itself "Foundation" rather than "Empire", and its ruler - though wielding as much power as any Emperor - retains the title of "Mayor". Writer Poul Anderson makes
288-546: A senate representative. The film's novelization is the first time he is called Darth Sidious. His home world, Naboo , is also home to Anakin's romantic interest, Padmé Amidala , who later becomes a senator of that planet. In the Lucasfilm-authorized Star Wars and History , Palpatine's consolidation of power is described as being similar to the first Roman emperor , Augustus . Both legitimized authoritarian rule by saying that corruption in
384-398: A "core world", a planet in a star system relatively close to a galaxy's supermassive black hole . Typically, "core worlds" will be portrayed as wealthier and more politically powerful than "rim worlds" closer to the edge of the galaxy. However, this portrayal, while common, is not universal; many works may invert this dynamic or reject it altogether. Second, the "empire" in "galactic empire"
480-536: A Jedi. Enraged, the Emperor attacks Luke with Force lightning . Unable to bear the sight of his son in pain, Vader throws the Emperor down a chasm shortly before the Death Star is destroyed. In the 1999 prequel Episode I: The Phantom Menace , set 32 years before A New Hope , Palpatine (named onscreen for the first time) is depicted as a middle-aged Galactic Senator from the planet Naboo . As his alter ego ,
576-406: A duel with Obi-Wan. After returning to Coruscant, he rebuilds Vader's burned, mutilated body with the black armored suit from the original trilogy. Palpatine then tells Vader that Padmé was killed in the heat of Vader's anger, breaking what remains of Vader's spirit. Palpatine is last seen watching the original Death Star's construction, with Vader and Wilhuff Tarkin ( Wayne Pygram ) at his side. In
672-401: A dying Howard Hughes ." Palpatine's role in the prequel films required McDiarmid to portray two aspects of the same character. Recalling the initial days of shooting The Phantom Menace , McDiarmid stated, "Palpatine's an interesting character; he's conventional on the outside, but demonic on the inside — he's on the edge, trying to go beyond what's possible." McDiarmid added another layer to
768-614: A host of stormtroopers , technicians, and other personnel. Lucas states he wanted it to look like the military parades on " May Day in Russia ." Lucas fleshed out the Emperor in the prequel trilogy . According to Lucas, Palpatine's role in The Phantom Menace is to explain "how Anakin Skywalker [later Vader] came to be Palpatine's apprentice" and the events that sparked Palpatine's rise to totalitarian power after being
864-514: A kindly old man and shows Ezra a vision of his dead parents through a doorway, promising that the youth will be with them if he enters it. Ezra is initially mesmerized by Palpatine's promise and goes to enter the door, but finally resists and destroys the reconstructed Jedi Temple and the illusion. Palpatine's hologram emerges from the rubble, flickering to show his true self, and commands his Royal Guards to kill Ezra, though Ezra manages to defeat them and escape. According to series creator Dave Filoni ,
960-448: A lightsaber and quickly dispatches all but Windu. Palpatine engages Windu in a duel and attacks him with Force lightning; Windu deflects the lightning back into Palpatine's face, deforming it into the gray, wizened visage first seen in the original trilogy. Before Windu can kill Palpatine, Anakin appears and desperate to save Padme, betrays Windu, allowing Palpatine to kill Windu with another blast of lightning. Anakin then reluctantly betrays
1056-496: A moral center, it's just that the only thing that mattered is increasing power." McDiarmid asserted that everything Palpatine does "is an act of pure hypocrisy." McDiarmid noticed that the script for Revenge of the Sith demanded more action from his character than in previous films. Lightsaber combat was a challenge to the 60-year-old actor, who, like his costars, took fencing lessons. The close-up shots and non-acrobatic sequences of
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#17327651023181152-468: A new costume—a formal robe with red velvet—which Kaplan refers to as "his true Emperor's garb". Todd McCarthy of Variety described McDiarmid's portrayal of Palpatine in Revenge of the Sith as "dominant" and "worth writing home about". Reviewing the same film, Ed Halter of The Village Voice wrote that "McDiarmid's unctuous Emperor turns appropriately vampiric as he attempts to draw Anakin into
1248-511: A point in the saga when everyone's waiting to see him. It's the Emperor, the arch-villain of all time, and when he says there's a great disturbance in the Force, I mean, that's enough oomph !" Years later, during production of Revenge of the Sith , Lucas decided to shoot new footage for The Empire Strikes Back to create continuity between the prequels and original trilogy. Thus, in the 2004 DVD release of The Empire Strikes Back Special Edition,
1344-414: A portal that shows Jedi Master Kanan Jarrus ' (voiced by Freddie Prinze Jr. ) final moments. While Ezra wants to reach through the portal and rescue Kanan, Ahsoka convinces him not to. Palpatine then reveals himself through the portal and attacks Ezra with Force lightning. However, Ahsoka and Ezra manage to evade him and go their separate ways, thus denying Palpatine full power. Palpatine later returns in
1440-808: A powerful space navy. It is stated in the original Star Wars film that there was an Imperial Senate that was later disbanded by the Emperor. There was a galactic empire called the Sith Empire founded by Darth Revan. This galactic power was close to overthrowing the Jedi's Republic during the Jedi Civil War. As a military dictatorship based upon fear and terror, the Empire is an explicitly villainous force with linguistic and visual traits directly reminiscent of Nazi Germany . For example, their armored forces known as " stormtroopers " are named analogously to
1536-474: A senator, but the attempt on her life fails. He then arranges for Anakin (now played by Hayden Christensen ) to guard Padmé on Naboo, which leads to them falling in love and marrying in secret. With the Separatists secretly building a battle droid army, Palpatine uses the situation to have himself granted emergency powers . Palpatine feigns reluctance to accept this authority, promising to return it to
1632-609: A valuable Kyber memory crystal that contains the names of thousands of Force-sensitive younglings – the future of the Jedi Order – from around the galaxy. The final stage of the plot: to bring four Force-sensitive children to Sidious' secret facility on Mustafar. Anakin and Ahsoka again foil the plot, but Bane escapes and all evidence of Sidious' involvement is lost. In season three, Sidious senses Dooku's assassin Asajj Ventress (voiced by Nika Futterman ) becoming powerful in
1728-512: Is actually the case — just as historical nation-states such as the ' Holy Roman Empire ' presented themselves; being roughly twice the size of modern Germany. While some of the noted fictional empires encompass a large portion of the galaxy, many other empires may be classified as interplanetary or interstellar empires, since they encompass only a local group of star systems. When works feature galactic empires that truly do span most or all of their parent galaxy, they usually depict their capital as
1824-399: Is also misleading, as it suggests the empire's government is authoritarian to at least some degree, if not completely autocratic. While many galactic empires do correspond to this description, many do not: galactic empires may adhere to any real-world political philosophy, or a unique form of governance created by the work's author(s). A prominent example of a non-autocratic galactic empire is
1920-789: Is briefly mentioned in Star Wars (1977), the first film in the original trilogy, which was later retitled Episode IV – A New Hope . On the Death Star , Grand Moff Tarkin explains to his fellow Imperials that the Emperor has dissolved the Imperial Senate, the last remnant of the Old Republic . The Emperor does not appear on-screen, leaving Tarkin and Darth Vader as the film's main villains. The Emperor first appears in The Empire Strikes Back ,
2016-464: Is eventually thwarted, and Maul is defeated in a lightsaber duel with Jedi Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi ( Ewan McGregor ). Palpatine uses the crisis to get elected as the new Chancellor of the Republic. He then returns to Naboo, where he befriends the nine-year-old Anakin Skywalker ( Jake Lloyd ), telling the boy, "We will watch your career with great interest." In the 2002 sequel Episode II: Attack of
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#17327651023182112-723: Is managed by a vast bureaucracy, ranging from the High Lords of Terra to various mostly-autonomous planetary governors (they can do whatever they like so long as they pay taxes), all of whom govern the Imperium's territories on behalf of the comatose God-Emperor. It is supported by several organisations, such as the Ecclesiarchy, its state church; and the Adeptus Mechanicus, which produces most of its military equipment, which also operate independently from each other and
2208-569: Is rescued by Anakin and Obi-Wan, but not before the Jedi confront Dooku again. A duel ensues in which Anakin defeats Dooku. Palpatine then betrays his apprentice by urging Anakin to kill him, leading to the Jedi Knight killing the helpless Count. Palpatine then escapes with his rescuers and returns to Coruscant. By this point, Palpatine has become a virtual dictator, able to take any action in the Senate. He makes Anakin his personal representative on
2304-442: Is set ten years after Revenge of the Sith . After Darth Vader is defeated by Obi-Wan Kenobi following their second duel, Palpatine contacts Vader in his Mustafar castle via hologram, questioning Vader's motives and loyalty when Vader reports that he will not rest until Obi-Wan is found. Vader reassures Palpatine that Obi-Wan does not mean anything, reaffirms his commitment to Palpatine and abandons his search. Darth Sidous appears in
2400-747: The Sturmabteilung (often known as the SA ), a paramilitary entity created by the Nazis in 1920. Their best-known weapon is the iconic Death Star , a Moon -sized space platform that can destroy entire planets. In the Star Wars universe, the fall of the Galactic Republic and its replacement by the Galactic Empire – as depicted in Revenge of the Sith – recall the historic fall of
2496-691: The Galactic Empire and the master of Darth Vader . In the prequel trilogy , which chronicles his rise to emperor, Palpatine is a senator from the planet Naboo who plots to become Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic . He masterminds the Clone Wars to turn the Republic into the Empire, destroys the Jedi Order , and manipulates Anakin Skywalker into becoming his apprentice, Darth Vader. In The Rise of Skywalker (2019),
2592-505: The Galactic Republic of the Star Wars prequel trilogy , which is a hybrid regime parliamentary democracy (albeit one that collapses into fascist dictatorship over the course of the story). The best known such organization to the general public today is the Galactic Empire from Star Wars , which was formed in turn from the Galactic Republic . Star Wars depicts an empire ruled autocratically by Darth Sidious , supported by
2688-797: The Jedi Council , whose members deny Anakin the rank of Jedi Master and order him to spy on the Chancellor. Palpatine tells Anakin the story of Darth Plagueis , a powerful Sith Lord who was able to create life and prevent death, but was killed by his own apprentice. Eventually, Palpatine reveals his secret Sith identity to Anakin; he knows that Anakin has been having prophetic visions of Padmé dying in childbirth, and offers to teach him Plagueis' secrets to save Padmé's life. Anakin informs Jedi Master Mace Windu ( Samuel L. Jackson ) of Palpatine's treachery. With three other Jedi Masters at his side, Windu attempts to arrest Palpatine, but Palpatine produces
2784-785: The Roman Republic and its replacement by the Roman Empire headed by Augustus . The term "galactic empire" has, perhaps because of association with the Empire from Star Wars , gained a pejorative meaning. In contrast to Star Wars, the galactic empires from the Foundation universe and the CoDominium universe are relatively benign organizations. Much of the plot of the Foundation series, authored by Isaac Asimov , revolves around who can best and most quickly revive
2880-732: The Sith Lord Darth Sidious, he advises the corrupt Trade Federation to blockade and invade Naboo. Queen Padmé Amidala of Naboo ( Natalie Portman ) flees to the planet Coruscant to receive counsel from Palpatine, unaware that he actually engineered the invasion. After a plea for help from the Senate results in bureaucratic delays, Palpatine manipulates and deceives Padmé to call for a motion of no confidence against Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum ( Terence Stamp ). When Padmé attempts to liberate Naboo, Sidious sends his apprentice Darth Maul (portrayed by Ray Park , voiced by Peter Serafinowicz ) to capture her. The invasion
2976-764: The Spacing Guild , an interstellar travel monopoly. Another notable example of a galactic empire is the Imperium of Man from the Warhammer 40,000 universe, which is a feudal theocratic industrial and militaristic totalitarian regime (nominally an absolute monarchy ) that does in fact span almost the entirety of the Milky Way Galaxy . Despite massive strength, the institution's territories are constantly at risk due to unending conflicts with various alien races and rebel factions . The Imperium of Man
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3072-461: The Star Wars franchise and the character Palpatine. His conceptualization of Palpatine and the role he plays in the franchise changed over time. Lucas's initial notes discuss a line of corrupt emperors, not just one. In the 1974 draft of Star Wars , the "New Galactic Empire" was led by a relatively young human named Cos Dashit. The name Palpatine first appears in the prologue of Alan Dean Foster 's 1976 novelization of Star Wars , which details
3168-416: The fallen galactic empire ; it is taken for granted that this is a positive and worthy aim. In writer Jerry Pournelle 's CoDominium series, members of the empire often work to maintain the best interests of humanity despite efforts by violent political extremists to pursue their own ends. Galactic empires are in many cases consciously modeled on historical Earth-bound empires. Asimov stated explicitly that
3264-414: The series finale "Family Reunion - and Farewell". In the episode, Ezra, having surrendered himself to Grand Admiral Thrawn (voiced by Lars Mikkelsen ) to protect Lothal, is taken by him to a room containing a reconstructed section of the ruined Jedi Temple and a hologram of Palpatine as he appears in the prequel films. Palpatine, having acknowledged the threat Ezra poses to the Empire, presents himself as
3360-664: The titular character warns Palpatine of "threats lurking in the Unknown Regions." Chuck Wendig 's Aftermath book trilogy reveals that, prior to his death, Palpatine enacted a plan for the remnants of the Empire, intended to be led by his adoptive son Gallius Rax , to retreat to the Unknown Regions, where they formed into the First Order . The dark side was thought to be concentrated in this region, where one Sith cultist believed that Palpatine would be found alive. The upcoming illustrated book Star Wars: The Secrets of
3456-474: The 1980 film The Empire Strikes Back as The Emperor . He is also known by his Sith name, Darth Sidious , which was first used in the novelization of the 1999 film The Phantom Menace . Palpatine appears in all three film trilogies in the Skywalker Saga , and is portrayed by Ian McDiarmid in all five films in which he physically appears. In the original trilogy , Palpatine is Emperor of
3552-456: The 1980 sequel to the original film. He appears as a hologram to inform Vader that Luke Skywalker has become a threat to the Empire. Vader persuades him that the young Jedi would be a great asset if he could be turned to the dark side of the Force. In 1983's Return of the Jedi , the Emperor appears in person to oversee the last stages of the second Death Star 's construction. He assures Vader that they will together turn Luke, Vader's son, to
3648-489: The 1st century AD. Asimov's Earth – like the historical Judea – is sharply polarized between those who accept the Imperial authority and the fanatic " Zealots " who hatch violent plots of bloody rebellion and are the book's clear villains. Foundation is depicted as having started life as a Foundation of scholars, taking up just one city on one faraway planet and setting up a modest municipal government headed, naturally, by
3744-417: The 2014 novel Tarkin . During the story development of The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Lucas decided that, with the original having only passingly mentioned the Emperor, he needed to "begin to deal with him on a more concrete level". Lucas realized, however, that the primary conflict with the Emperor would be best saved for the trilogy's third film, Return of the Jedi , because "[w]hen you get rid of
3840-550: The 2021 book Skywalker: A Family at War describes Palpatine's son as an "offshoot of [his] genetic research, not precisely a clone but made of cloned tissue and donated cells." Star Wars: Lords of the Sith (2015) was one of the first canon spin-off novels to be released in the Disney canon begun in 2014. In it, Vader and Palpatine find themselves hunted by revolutionaries on the Twi'lek home planet Ryloth . In Thrawn (2017),
3936-602: The Clone Wars behind the scenes. Palpatine was voiced by Ian Abercrombie (from 2008 to his death in 2012), and by Tim Curry (from 2012 to 2014). In the film, Sidious engineers a Separatist plot in which Count Dooku (voiced by Corey Burton ) turns Jabba the Hutt (voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson ) against the Republic by kidnapping his son Rotta and framing the Jedi for it. Meanwhile, Palpatine suggests that
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4032-527: The Clones , set 10 years later, Palpatine exploits constitutional loopholes to remain in office after his term expires. Meanwhile, as Sidious, he continues to manipulate events from behind the scenes by having his new Sith apprentice Count Dooku ( Christopher Lee ) lead a movement of planets in seceding to form the Confederacy of Independent Systems. He has the Separatists try to assassinate Padmé, now
4128-642: The Egyptian-Canadian commentator Khalid M. Baheyeldin has enumerated the obviously Islamic concepts and references appearing in Dune to the level of finding multiple similarities between the career of Herbert's Paul Atreides and that of the Islamic prophet Muhammad . In Dune , the empire's power is held within three organizations: the Imperial family; the Landsraad , representing the nobility ; and
4224-419: The Emperor's rise to power. From Return of the Jedi (1983) onwards, the Emperor became the ultimate personification of evil in the series, replacing his apprentice Darth Vader as the central villain. Though the films of the original Star Wars trilogy do not actually state the Emperor's name, the novelization of Return of the Jedi states his surname as Palpatine. He was given the first name Sheev in
4320-473: The Emperor, the whole thing is over." Discussing the character's importance to the story, Lucas stated that "In the end, the Emperor does exactly what [ Obi-Wan Kenobi ] did; he can also transform himself", referring to the ability to live after death through the Force . Although Palpatine dies at the end of Return of the Jedi , the plot point of his metamorphosis was utilized for the sequel trilogy , which Lucas had no direct involvement with. In Return of
4416-541: The Galactic Empire whose fall is depicted in his Foundation books is also modeled on the Roman Empire , with the author taking direct inspiration from the historical writings of Edward Gibbon , even to the point of basing some individual characters on historical figures. Specifically, Pebble in the Sky , which is set on Earth – a poor and backward province of the Galactic Empire – is modeled on Roman-ruled Judea in
4512-661: The Galactic Empire. He briefly appears off-screen at the end of season two's premiere " The Siege of Lothal " (originally voiced by Sam Witwer and later Ian McDiarmid from 2019). Darth Vader informs Palpatine that the Rebel Alliance cell on Lothal has been broken and that Ahsoka Tano is alive and is now helping the Rebels. Palpatine sees this as an opportunity to seek out other remaining Jedi, ordering Vader to dispatch an Inquisitor to hunt down Ahsoka. Palpatine returns physically in season four (voiced again by McDiarmid). In
4608-601: The Galaxy Cauldron, the birthplace of all life in the Milky Way located in Galactic Center . Bertram Chandler wrote two interstellar series – one featuring a Galactic Empire ruled by a series of non-hereditary Empresses while the other has a Republican Galactic Federation . Chandler's Empire and Federation, both relatively benign, have much in common – both covering the same volume of space, having much
4704-532: The Jedi . Palpatine also appears in Rae Carson 's novelization of The Rise of Skywalker , which expands upon the film's story. In the book, Palpatine is revealed to have discovered the "secret to immortality" from his former master, Darth Plagueis, using this knowledge to survive after his death in Return of the Jedi . The novelization also describes Palpatine's son as a failed clone of himself. However,
4800-573: The Jedi , he resumed stage acting in London. In an interview with BackStage , McDiarmid revealed that he "never had his sights set on a film career" and never auditioned for the role of Palpatine. He elaborated, "I got called in for the interview after a Return of the Jedi casting director saw me perform in the Sam Shepard play Seduced at a studio theatre at the Royal Court . I was playing
4896-570: The Jedi , the initial conception of Palpatine as a weak, isolated figurehead was superseded by his depiction as a dictatorial ruler adept in the dark side of the Force. The Emperor was inspired by the villain Ming the Merciless from the Flash Gordon comic books. The characterization of Palpatine as an ambitious and ruthless politician dismantling a democratic republic to achieve supreme power
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#17327651023184992-417: The Jedi . The film's director, J. J. Abrams , spoke of Palpatine's inclusion in the sequel trilogy: "...when you look at this as nine chapters of a story, perhaps the weirder thing would be if Palpatine didn't return. You just look at what he talks about, who he is, how important he is, what the story is — strangely, his absence entirely from the third trilogy would be conspicuous". On Palpatine's portrayal in
5088-614: The Jedi and pledges himself to the dark side as Palpatine's Sith apprentice, Darth Vader. Palpatine issues Order 66 , a command instilled in the Clone Troopers that forcibly compelled them to view their Jedi generals as traitors to the republic and subsequently executing them, while dispatching Vader to kill everyone inside the Jedi Temple and then murder the Separatist leaders on the planet Mustafar . Palpatine deceives
5184-512: The Republic ally itself with the Hutts. Although Anakin Skywalker and his Padawan Ahsoka Tano (voiced by Ashley Eckstein ) foil the plot, the outcome suits Palpatine's ends: Jabba places Hutt hyperspace routes at the Republic's disposal. In season two of the TV series, Sidious hires bounty hunter Cad Bane (voiced by Corey Burton ) to infiltrate the Jedi Temple and steal a holocron . He then takes
5280-549: The Resistance fleet with Force lightning. Rey uses the power of the past Jedi to face Palpatine once more; he attacks her with lightning, but Rey deflects it using the Skywalker lightsabers, finally killing Palpatine and his Sith loyalists. In the 2008 animated film Star Wars: The Clone Wars and the subsequent animated series (set between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith ), Palpatine continues to serve as Supreme Chancellor while his Sith identity orchestrates
5376-470: The Senate once the crisis has ended. His first act is to allow a clone army's creation to counter the Separatist threat; this results in the first battle of the Clone Wars . With the galaxy now at war as Sidious planned, Dooku brings him the secret plans for the Death Star. In the 2005 sequel Episode III: Revenge of the Sith , set three years later, Palpatine is captured by cyborg Separatist leader General Grievous (voiced by Matthew Wood ). Palpatine
5472-576: The Senate was hampering the powers of the head of state; both pressured the Senate to grant extraordinary powers to deal with a crisis, falsely claiming that they would rescind those powers once the crisis was over; and both relied on their strong control over military force. When the Emperor first appeared in The Empire Strikes Back , he was portrayed by Marjorie Eaton under heavy makeup. Chimpanzee eyes were superimposed into darkened eye sockets during post-production. The character
5568-399: The Separatist leaders into believing that Vader would protect them. Palpatine then reorganizes the Republic into the Galactic Empire, with himself as Emperor. Jedi Master Yoda (voiced by Frank Oz ) confronts Palpatine and engages him in a lightsaber duel that ends in a stalemate. Sensing that Vader is in danger, Palpatine travels to Mustafar and finds his new apprentice near death following
5664-423: The Sith is told from Palpatine's perspective. Palpatine appears frequently in the comic book series Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith (2017–2018), written by Kieron Gillen and Charles Soule. It is suggested at the end of the series that Palpatine manipulated the Force to impregnate Vader's mother Shmi Skywalker , making him, in essence, Vader's father—although this is left somewhat ambiguous. This builds on
5760-462: The Sith fold with promises of eternal life." McDiarmid was nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Revenge of the Sith. According to Cory Barlog , the planned-but-never-produced Star Wars: Underworld television series would have depicted Palpatine in a sympathetic way. The character is referred to as "the Emperor" in the original trilogy . He
5856-583: The Sith planet Exegol , where a physically impaired Palpatine is supported by machinery. Palpatine reveals himself as the power behind Ren's former master, Snoke ( Andy Serkis ), whom he created to rule the First Order and lure Ren to the dark side. He then unveils the Final Order, a massive fleet of Sith Star Destroyers built by the Sith Eternal . Palpatine offers the Sith fleet to Ren on
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#17327651023185952-445: The ability to send instantaneous unmanned ships carrying bombs to another planet is exploited as well. However, living beings cannot survive such travel, and thus humans are limited to space exploration at relativistic speeds. Correspondingly, this organization, despite on occasion waging war across interstellar distances, ends up being looser than a true empire. Author Orson Scott Card 's "Starways Congress", an organization featured in
6048-500: The central Terran government. In the final arc of the Sailor Moon manga series by Naoko Takeuchi , a fictional organization called Shadow Galactica has established an empire all over the Milky Way. Shadow Galactica is stealing "starseeds", the essence of sentient life in the galaxy. Its members come from different Star Systems and Sailor Galaxia, the self-proclaimed "Golden Queen of Shadow Galactica", has built her palace around
6144-472: The character in Attack of the Clones . He said, "[Palpatine] is a supreme actor. He has to be even more convincing than somebody who isn't behaving in a schizophrenic fashion, so he's extra charming, or extra professional — and for those who are looking for clues, that's almost where you can see them." McDiarmid reflected on the scene in which Padmé Amidala is almost assassinated: There's a moment in one scene of
6240-482: The condition that he find and kill the galaxy's last remaining Jedi, Rey, who is revealed to be Palpatine's granddaughter. It is subsequently revealed that Palpatine had a son who renounced him; the son and his partner took their daughter Rey to the planet Jakku , assuming lives as "nobodies" to keep her safe. Palpatine's assassin Ochi eventually found Rey's parents and killed them on his orders, but never found Rey. Near
6336-511: The dark side and orders Dooku to eliminate her; he suspects that Dooku is planning to have Ventress assassinate him. Ventress survives and her revenge against Dooku sets off a chain of events including the return of Sidious' former apprentice and Dooku's predecessor, Darth Maul. In season five, Sidious personally travels to the planet Mandalore to confront Maul, who has become the leader of Death Watch. Sidious kills Maul's brother Savage Opress (voiced by Clancy Brown ) before torturing Maul with
6432-564: The dark side of the Force. Unbeknownst to Vader, the Emperor plans to replace him with Luke; Vader, meanwhile, intends to overthrow the Emperor and rule the galaxy with Luke at his side. When Vader brings Luke before his master, the Emperor tempts Luke to join the dark side by appealing to the young Jedi's fear for his friends, whom he has lured into a trap. This leads to a lightsaber duel in which Luke defeats and nearly kills Vader. The Emperor betrays his apprentice by urging Luke to kill Vader and take his place, but Luke refuses and declares himself
6528-432: The dark side." In The Rise of Skywalker , Palpatine is unable to move without the aid of a large machine, to which he is attached. His eyes have no pupils and his hands are rotting. Costume designer Michael Kaplan opted to dress Palpatine in a utilitarian black robe, which he wears for the majority of the film. At the end of the film, Palpatine rejuvenates himself using the Force and becomes physically mobile. He dons
6624-465: The democracies aren't overthrown; they're given away." Lucas also said, "The whole point of the movies, the underlying element that makes the movies work, is that you, whether you go backwards or forwards, you start out in a democracy, and democracy turns into a dictatorship, and then the rebels make it back into a democracy." Lucas wanted to establish the Emperor as the true source of evil in Star Wars . Screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan noted, "My sense of
6720-425: The duel between Palpatine and Mace Windu were performed by McDiarmid. Advanced fencing and acrobatic stunts were executed by McDiarmid's stunt doubles. In the 2019 film The Rise of Skywalker , McDiarmid returned to the role of Palpatine on screen for the first time since Revenge of the Sith . McDiarmid was surprised to learn of the filmmakers' decision to bring back Palpatine, given the character died in Return of
6816-483: The end of the film, Rey arrives on Exegol to confront Palpatine. Surrounded by his Sith loyalists, Palpatine embodies all the Sith's power. He orders Rey to kill him in anger so his spirit can pass into her, which will allow him to possess her body . Rey refuses, and she and Ren (now the redeemed Ben Solo ) confront Palpatine together. Sensing their power as a dyad in the Force, Palpatine absorbs their life energy to rejuvenate his body. He incapacitates Ben and attacks
6912-579: The episodes "Wolves and a Door" and "A World Between Worlds", he appears as a hologram overseeing the excavation of the Lothal Jedi Temple , which contains a portal to a separate dimension of the Force outside of space and time, which Palpatine considers a 'conduit between the living and the dead' that could give him unrivaled power of the Force itself if he can access it. Shortly after Ezra Bridger (voiced by Taylor Gray ) reaches through time and space to rescue Ahsoka from Vader, Palpatine sets up
7008-525: The events of Rogue One and A New Hope happen shortly after this episode, thus refocusing Palpatine's attention from Ezra and Lothal's liberation to the Rebel Alliance and Luke Skywalker. Palpatine appears in the first season of the 2021 animated series Star Wars: The Bad Batch . The series is set during (and immediately following) the events of the 2005 film Revenge of the Sith . The series' first episode depicts Palpatine's senate speech from
7104-430: The film in animated form, using the archive sound of McDiarmid's dialogue. As in the film, Palpatine orders the extermination of the Jedi and declares himself emperor. Palpatine appears in season 3, in which he inspects the progress of Project Necromancer's clone experiments under the supervision of Imperial scientist Dr. Hemlock. Palpatine appears in the sixth episode of the 2022 series Obi-Wan Kenobi . The series
7200-514: The film, McDiarmid said, "he's fairly physically impaired, but his mind is as sharp as ever." Transforming McDiarmid into Emperor Palpatine for Return of the Jedi required extensive makeup, which took between two and four hours to apply. Film critic Roger Ebert wrote that the Emperor "looks uncannily like Death in The Seventh Seal ," and film historian Robin Wood compared him to
7296-484: The final film in the sequel trilogy , a resurrected Palpatine is revealed to be the grandfather of Rey , a Jedi-in-training. He is also the mastermind behind Snoke , whom he created to lead the First Order against the New Republic and seduce Skywalker's grandson, Ben Solo, into becoming Kylo Ren . Palpatine's story was inspired by real-world examples of political strongman and democratic backsliding during
7392-650: The fourth episode of the Tales of the Jedi TV series talking with Darth Tyrranus. The first appearance of Palpatine in Star Wars literature was in the prologue of Alan Dean Foster 's ghostwritten novelization of the script of A New Hope , published as Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker (1976). His background as a senator of the Republic was explored in James Kahn 's novelization of Return of
7488-598: The hag from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). McDiarmid remarked, "When my face changes in [ Revenge of the Sith ], my mind went back to the early silent movie of The Phantom of the Opera with Lon Chaney ." Palpatine's wardrobe in the prequels, tailored by costume designer Trisha Biggar, played an important part in the development of the character. In Attack of the Clones , explained McDiarmid, "The costumes ... have got much more edge to them, I think than
7584-440: The hypothesis of a warp drive (such as, more specifically, an Alcubierre drive ) that bends the fabric of space-time . In many cases, the term "galactic empire" is misleading. First, the "galactic" in "galactic empire" suggests an organization encompassing far more star systems than is actually described. This may come about as a result of propaganda exaggerating the spread of an imperial entity in order to appear stronger than
7680-404: The intent to make use of his former apprentice. In season six, Sidious goes to lengths to conceal his plan from the Jedi by silencing Clone Trooper Fives from learning of Order 66, and having Dooku wipe out anything tied to the former Jedi Master's connection to the conspiracy. In Star Wars Rebels , set between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope , Palpatine is portrayed as the Emperor of
7776-535: The mere senator had in The Phantom Menace . So we see the trappings of power." McDiarmid's favorite costume in the film was a high-collared jacket that resembles reptile skin. He stated that "it just feels reptilian, which is exactly right for [Palpatine]." Biggar explained that the character's costumes become "progressively darker and more ornately decorated throughout the movie." She added: "He wears greys and browns, almost going to black, taking him toward
7872-420: The new film where tears almost appear in [Palpatine's] eye. These are crocodile tears , but for all those in the movie, and perhaps watching the movie itself, they'll see he is apparently moved — and of course, he is. He can just do it. He can, as it were, turn it on. And I suppose for him, it's also a bit of a turn-on — the pure exercise of power is what he's all about. That's the only thing he's interested in and
7968-457: The only thing that can satisfy him — which makes him completely fascinating to play because it is an evil soul. He is more evil than the devil . In Revenge of the Sith , McDiarmid plays an even darker version of the character. He explained that "when you're playing a character of solid blackness, that in itself is very interesting, in the sense that you have no other motivation other than the accumulation of power. It's not so much about not having
8064-411: The original version of the Emperor was replaced by Ian McDiarmid, and the dialogue between the Emperor and Darth Vader was revised. Lucas and director Richard Marquand cast McDiarmid to play Emperor Palpatine for Return of the Jedi . He was in his late 30s and had never played a leading role in a feature film, though he had made minor appearances in films like Dragonslayer (1981). After Return of
8160-413: The plot point of Anakin's virgin birth introduced in The Phantom Menace , and the claim that a Sith lord "could use the Force to influence the midi-chlorians to create life," as Palpatine tells Anakin in Revenge of the Sith . This would seem to have incestuous implications for Rey and Ben Solo at the end of The Rise of Skywalker , but Soule says that "The Dark Side is not a reliable narrator," and
8256-654: The point of tracing out the space equivalents of the Roman ' Principate ' and ' Dominate ' phases. The universe established in Frank Herbert 's Dune once again recalls the Holy Roman Empire, as well as the Byzantine and Islamic empires, especially given the role of hitherto disregarded desert-dwellers who, due to a powerful new religion, expand to topple an old empire and build a new one. For example,
8352-401: The point that the declining empire depicted in his Dominic Flandry series does not span the entire galaxy but only a fraction of one of its spiral arms. Nevertheless, the institution is vast beyond a regular human's ability to truly comprehend, and it is in the process of collapsing under its own weight. This series also consciously compares its imperial organization with the Roman Empire, to
8448-451: The relationship between Darth Vader and the Emperor is that the Emperor is much more powerful ... and that Vader is very much intimidated by him. Vader has dignity, but the Emperor in Jedi really has all the power." He explained that the climax of the film is a confrontation between Vader and his master. In the first scene that shows the Emperor, he arrives at the Death Star and is greeted by
8544-574: The rise and rule of dictators such as Julius Caesar , Napoleon Bonaparte , and Adolf Hitler . Since the release of the original trilogy, Palpatine has become a widely recognized symbol of evil in popular culture. Since the prequel trilogy, he has been a symbol of sinister deception and the subversion of democracy. In addition to the films, Palpatine appears in the series Clone Wars , The Clone Wars , Star Wars Rebels , The Bad Batch , Obi-Wan Kenobi and Star Wars: Tales . He also appears in Star Wars novels and comics. George Lucas created
8640-500: The same kind of Space Navy and both having the same commercial spaceflight company called "The Dog Star Line", suggesting that these are two alternate history timelines which branched off from the same original space travelling culture. In Ursula K. Le Guin 's Hainish Cycle , the interstellar entity known as "The League of All Worlds" and later as "The Ekumen" is in possession of the ' ansible ' (a tachyonic device). Technology makes possible instantaneous interstellar communications, and
8736-470: The sequel trilogy, set three decades following the events of Return of the Jedi , the First Order has risen from the fallen Empire and seeks to destroy the New Republic , the Resistance , and Luke Skywalker. In the trilogy's first installment, The Force Awakens (2015), Palpatine's voice is heard during a vision that Rey ( Daisy Ridley ) experiences upon touching Luke and Anakin's lightsaber. In
8832-509: The sequel, The Last Jedi (2017), Luke briefly mentions Palpatine as Darth Sidious while explaining the fall of the Jedi Order to Rey. Palpatine, again played by McDiarmid, appears in the trilogy's final film, The Rise of Skywalker (2019). Prior to the film's opening , Palpatine threatens revenge against the galaxy, having used the dark side to cheat death. This prompts First Order leader and fallen Jedi Kylo Ren ( Adam Driver )—the grandson of Anakin and nephew of Luke—to seek him out on
8928-1226: The sub-genres of science fantasy and space opera , although they may appear in other sub-genres as well. Works featuring galactic empires may have them as the story's focus, chronicling the empire's growth and/or decline. Alternatively, they may merely serve as a backdrop against which the events of the story play out. While depictions of galactic empires can vary wildly from work to work, most galactic empires share several key tropes: Characterizations of these empires can vary wildly from work to work. They may be benevolent or malevolent; all-powerful or too weak or incompetent to exert power in anything but name; or anywhere in between. Most of these galaxy-spanning domains depend on some form of transportation capable of quickly or instantly crossing vast cosmic distances, usually measured in light-years , many times faster than familiar particles such as photons traveling at light speed . These, instantaneous or faster-than-light (FTL) ( tachyonic ) technologies invariably require some type of propulsion or displacement technology forbidden by Albert Einstein 's theories on relativity . Described methods often rely on theories that circumvent or supersede relativity: for instance,
9024-481: The work Speaker for the Dead (the follow-up to Ender's Game ), similarly relies on the ansible. Yet it is more authoritarian and less benevolent than Le Guin's creation. Much of the story-line of the book and its sequels involves attempts to avoid interstellar bloodshed despite difficult circumstances. Palpatine Sheev Palpatine is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise. He first appeared in
9120-401: Was in part inspired by the real-world examples of democratic backsliding during the rise and rule of Julius Caesar , Napoleon Bonaparte , Alberto Fujimori , Ferdinand Marcos Sr. , and Adolf Hitler . Other elements of the character come from Richard Nixon . Lucas said that Nixon's presidency "got me to thinking historically about how do democracies get turned into dictatorships. Because
9216-413: Was voiced by Clive Revill . The makeup was sculpted by Phil Tippett and applied by Rick Baker , who initially used his own wife, Elaine, for the makeup tests. "With [director Irvin] Kershner ," Revill said, "you had to keep the reins tight — you couldn't go overboard. It was the perfect example of the old adage 'less is more' — the Emperor doesn't say very much. But when he finally appears, it's at
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